Erin O'Riordan has been writing compulsively since she could hold
a pencil, and professionally since 2006. More than forty of her
short stories, essays, and film reviews have been published in
numerous magazines and websites. Beltane, her first
novel, is the first in the twelve-part "Pagan Spirits"
series. The literary character she most closely resembles is an
untamed Shakespearean shrew.

Okay, so at first glance, Weezer’s pop-rock tune "Troublemaker"
hardly seems like inspiration for us writers.. No one wants to be
called a "petty crook," and the L.A.-based alternative rock
band’s sound isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. (Some of the lyrics,
though not the ones I’ll be discussing, are also slightly risque.)
The guys of Weezer have come up with some quite original and witty
lyrics over the years, though, and on closer inspection,
"Troublemaker" has some good lessons for writers after all.
Consider some of the lines that follow the "petty crooks"
remark:

--"...So turn off the TV, ‘cause that’s what others
see." Those of us with a TV habit can attest to TV’s
writing-time-wasting effect. As artists, we may applaud TV’s
ability to allow millions across the globe to share the same bank of
stories and images. In other ways, TV’s visual, corporate-sponsored
approach to communal storytelling may lessen our collective ability
to imagine a plot line for ourselves, without a Hollywood studio’s
help. Before you completely dismiss television as a drain on our
imaginations, though, consider this: at a book festival in my
hometown, prolific—and best-selling—author Linda Lael Miller was
asked where she gets her ideas. She cited TV as one of her
inspirations, along with country music.

--"...I will learn by studying the lessons in my dreams..."
There truly is a craft to writing. Before we can write that
best-seller, we have to learn the nuts and bolts of grammar,
punctuation, structure, etc. We begin learning this in school. We
read great books and dissect their greatness. We practice, fail,
practice some more. Our teachers, tutors, professors, and mentors
help us along the way, imparting the knowledge of the craft to us.
Books, writers’ conferences, and websites can teach us still
more. At some point, though, our writing has to come from somewhere
inside of us. Call that "somewhere" what you will: the
right hemisphere of the brain, the subconscious, the soul, the muse.
Whatever name it goes by, it gives us our best ideas, often when we
least expect them. Sometimes they literally come in dreams as we
sleep. I’ve had some great ideas just before falling asleep and as
I’m waking. Ideas can come at any time, and it’s in our best
interest to follow these flashes of inspiration. We can also speak
our dreams into reality: the moment we have the courage to name
ourselves "writer," we start to make it true.

--"...Doing things my own way and never giving up..."
Every piece of writing we submit will be expected to follow the
publisher’s guidelines. The key word there is "guide."
Writing may be a craft, but it is also an art, and artists have many
times been rewarded (professionally or personally) for disregarding
the rules and following their intuition. We should do things our own
way and write to please ourselves first. Along with that, we have to
have persistence. If we’ve studied our craft well, edited
judiciously, and written something interesting and worthwhile, our
work will be acknowledged, even if that acknowledgment takes longer
than we’d like. Never give up.

--"...I can’t work a job, like any other slob, punchin’ in
and punchin’ out and suckin’ up to Bob..." One of
the unfortunate truths of the writing profession is an extremely
small percentage of us will ever reach the level of success of the
top popular authors. Hugo Award-winning science fiction writer Joe
Haldeman, at the book festival I mentioned earlier, likened his
income to that of "a good used-car salesman." Most of us
will never be able to quit our day jobs. This doesn’t mean working
as a full-time writer, spending all day every day doing the thing we
love most, isn’t a worthwhile goal. Some days feels as if life has
unfairly saddled us with a desire to do nothing else but read and
write, then forced us to do some other work to pay the bills. With
persistence and a little luck, though, many of us will find ways to
carve out a living...even if we always feel like the proverbial
"starving artist."

--"...There isn’t anybody else exactly quite like me..."
Writers each have our own unique voices, just as the singers of rock
bands do. By listening to our dreams, doing things our own way, and
working at our craft, we will all create our personal styles. If we
get our styles just right, our readers will know our voices without
even seeing our bylines. You know Hemingway when you read him, don’t
you? Or Edgar Allan Poe? Find your voice, and you’ll find yourself
an audience.

In pop-rock songs, the words of the chorus are often repeated. In
this case, the last line of

"Troublemaker" bears repeating. When you think of your
writing career, remember these three final words: "Never giving
up.”